Hello, I want to purchase an '06 LS with approximately 155,000 miles. The car is in excellent condition, holding a clean title with a clean Carfax report, and my inspection confirms it's in pretty good shape.

However, there is one modification I'd like to discuss—the LS is equipped with aftermarket rear seat headrest TVs. The power cords for these TVs are visible, running down the inside of the back of the front seats. The current owner is uncertain about their functionality, as the previous owner installed them and hasn't tested them. I attempted to power one up, but it didn't turn on.

Could this aftermarket installation cause issues within the LS's electrical system? Does anyone know how these TVs might be wired and how they could be removed if I purchase the car? Any other advice or thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

I have aftermarket rear TVs in the headrests on my 08 Sequoia, and I would imagine that they are probably wired up in a similar manner....

On mine, the headrests themselves have wires that run on the interior of the seats to a pair of control boxes that are mounted under the passenger seat, which then have wiring that runs under the carpet, and into the engine bay for the electrical hookups. I assume they were a dealer installed when the truck was new, because it is a very clean install and there aren't any exposed wires at all ...w hich is strange, because the Sequoia platinum had a rear DVD system as an option, so I don't know why someone would have spent the money to put this system in when the option was available from the factory

I don't imagine it would cause any issues with the car SO LONG as they didn't try to butcher anything up while performing the install.

Did you check to see if the power headrest controls still work? I would be curious to see how they integrated that.

 

Thanks for the replay and your thoughts. I forgot to check that the power headrest works. D'oh. Everything else seemed to work in the interior.

 

Sure thing. I can tell you one thing, that removing stupid electronics is certainly easier than putting them in!

Would you try to get them working if you bought the car just for grins? Or would you huck them in the garbage?

 

Nothing that is wired in via the aftermarket is ever done well. Period. Trace all the wires and remove everything.

I'd just remove them and throw them away.

 

You should have seen the off road light "wiring job" on my Nissan Xterra when I had first bought it.

Whoever owned it before me had no clue what they were doing, and had two mini LED light bars attached to the bull bar via VHB tape, and then they ran the lead wire up, took the cover off the engine bay fuse box, and literally just jammed the bare end of the wire into a random fuse that was hot with the ignition in the on position., then then tried to snap the cover back on with the new wires stuffed under the cover.

Needless to say the lights would blind the hell out of everybody, and those lights were very quickly removed by me once I got home.

My biggest concern with the rear headrest TVs would be if the original owner drilled holes in the firewall to try and connect them to the battery, mainly just to see if the holes were sealed up properly (not likely) to prevent water intrusion. If you buy it, I would just check into that to see if there is anything that needs to be sealed up.

Did you have the chance to listen to the radio and check the other electrical equipment when you looked at it?

 

Thanks for the replies. I decided not to buy the car.

The owner wants more than the book value for it and does not seem like he wants to budge on the price. I'm willing to pay a little above the book value due to it being a desirable year but his price is a bit higher than I'm willing to go given the milage on the LS. The rear seat headrest entertainment system and its wiring is also a bit concerning. I'm not good at electrical things and it will cost to have it removed by a professional. This is something that I just can't leave hanging around especially if they don't work. lol

I'm also took note of some other things that will require attention to get the car back to being fully being stock. These things are minor but I have to consider them.

Again, thanks for all your thoughts! The search for my LS continues...